Twins Victoria and Anastasia Smirnova of Belgium worked as interns in the media center at the Barbasol Championship last week. (Barbasol Championship Photo)
There certainly was an international feel to the Barbasol Championship in Jessamine County last week with Irishman Seamus Power winning the tourney on the sixth playoff hole. But there was a different kind of international presence in the media center all week with twins Victoria and Anastasia Smirnova, senior tennis players at Rice University. The twins were born in Russia, moved to Germany before they were 1 year old, and lived there almost six years before moving to Belgium.
Their parents are both professional table tennis players. Their father was ranked as high as 11th in the world and participated in three Olympic Games ( London, Greece, and Beijing) and was the top-ranked player in Russia for 20 years.
“Our parents really wanted us to play a sport but we never played table tennis,” Anastasia Smirnova said. “We had tennis. They never really wanted to be our coaches but they actually became our coaches.”
They played so well that before their high school junior season they started getting contacted by U.S. college coaches via social media. However, they thought the messages were “fishy” because they had no idea they could come to the United States to play a sport and also get an education just because they played tennis.
“In Belgium, we had never really heard of that,” she said. “But we did our research. Houston is a big city with a small university (Rice). That was kind of the best of both worlds and my sister said it was her dream school and it was a match made in heaven because if we were going to a new country, we wanted to go to school together. So it all turned out well.”
Still, how did twins born in Russia who moved to Germany and then Belgium and now play tennis at Rice end up working in the media center at the Barbasol Championship in Kentucky?
Simple. They worked the U.S. Women’s Open in Houston in December and actually got to work with the media for that event. They were looking for an internship this summer with no success with one of their professors contacted Bryan Pettigrew, tournament director at the Barbasol, to see if he needed any interns.
“He said he did and that’s how we ended up here,” Anastasia said.
The sisters had tried playing golf at about age 12 with limited success. However, they like how golf players are “friendly toward each other” on and off the court.
“In tennis, even off the court, there is a competition going on,” she said. “In golf, you can have a good day but your opponent can also have a nice day. There are just a lot of nice vibes in golf.”
They also found a lot of nice vibes in Kentucky even though most of their time was spent at Champions at Keene Trace working the tournament.
“Lexington reminds me of Belgium because it is really green as well,” Anastasia said. “Everything is so pretty here. We really love it.”
They had a host family who made sure they had time to see some things — the Ark Encounter in Williamstown was one place they really liked.
But the sisters were very content working in the media center doing whatever was needed.
“I just like organizing events, especially sports events,” Anastasia said. “I like everything about the sports industry. I would love to have a career in sports.”
Barbasol Championship officials have already invited them back to Kentucky for the 2022 event.
“That would be great if it works out. We have loved it here and would love to come back,” Anastasia said.
